Chris Rockpreviously made a documentary about Black women’s hair, before joking aboutJada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head at the 2022Academy Awards.
Rock — who joked, “Jada, I love ya.G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see ya” to Jada before her husband,Will Smith, took the stage andstruck him across the face— produced, narrated and co-wrote a documentary calledGood Hairthat was released in 2009. The documentary was well reviewed and won the Special Jury Prize Documentary at the2009 Sundance Film Festival.
According toan official synopsis, the film follows Rock, 57, as he “visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships and self-esteem of the Black community in this exposé of comic proportions that only he could pull off.”
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Chris Rock inGood Hair(2009).HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection
During Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, presenter Rock made the joke about Jada’s shaved head, which she recently opened up about, revealing it was a result of heryears-long struggle with alopecia.
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“I know to do what we do you gotta be able to take abuse; you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you,” theFresh Prince of Bel-Airalum continued. “In this business you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you, and you gotta smile and pretend like that’s okay.”
Will then addressed the incident directly, offering an apology to the Academy and his fellow actors for the incident — but failed to mention Rock.
Chris Rock (L); Jada Pinkett Smith.Getty (2)
A source later told PEOPLE that the heated exchange between the Best Actor winner and Oscars presentergoes back several years, when Rock took aim at Jada during his hosting gig at the 2016 Academy Awards.
“When Chris hostedthe Oscarsin 2016, Jada was boycotting because of’Oscars So White.‘In his monologue, he made fun of her, saying she can’t boycott something she wasn’t invited to,” the insider explained. “Will was still mad about that.”
Representatives for Rock have not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
source: people.com
